July 30 - ESPN2 6:00
James Toney vs. Adolpho Washington
James at one time was an up and coming middleweight with explosive speed and power. This
speed and power earned him world titles in both the middle weight and super middle weight
divisions. He carried these for a combined 9 title defenses and showed tremendous poise
and patience with the unmistakable ability to stop his foes, earning him the nickname
"Lights-Out". Until Roy Jones made a KO victim out of him and took his IBF super
middleweight title in Nov of 94. Since then he has moved up in weight, and is 3 - 2 in his
last 5 bouts. He does own prestigious wins over names like Mike McCallum, Steve Little and
Michael Nunn, but that was the James of old. The James of new is a bloated slow moving
shell of himself.
Adolpho Washington too is a former world champion. He earned the IBF cruiser weight title,
but lost it in short time to Uriah Grant. He is a tenacious pugilist who gives his all and
rarely goes down. Conditioning will prove to be the determining factor, and I believe a
motivated Washington will be ready to rumble.
Washington by Decision
Ray Oliveira vs. Chiat
Salman
Ray is no stranger to the welter weight division. He has been bucking for a world title
for years now, and hasn't been able to attain anything more than the NABF junior welter
belt, which he lost to Reggie Green in Aug of 97. Haven't heard much from Ray in a while,
then last Jan he fought Fitz Vanderpool (Canadian Welter Champ) to a dramatic draw that in
my opinion put Ray back on track for title contention. He gets in the ring with the
undefeated turk Chiat. Chiat is a turkish transplant who is touted as an amateur champion.
He is currently 16-0-1 with 4 KO's. A win against undefeated Chiat would be an excellent
feather in the cap of Ray, and I suspect he has trained hard to go the distance and win
rounds. Expect this to be a bargain basement rumble from start to finish.
Oliveira by Decision
July 31 - PPV 6:00
Erik Morales vs. Reynante Jamili
There is no secret of my opinion of Erik. In his last outing, he dismantled Juan Carlos
Ramirez as I expected. Here's a quote
from that prediction "Eric is unstoppable. He stopped Junior Jones last
September, he stopped Angel Chacon this past Feb. The boy is hot."
He fights in this mandatory defense against #1 ranked Jamili.
Jamili has fought most all his fights in s.e. asia and has attained the
Oriental-Pacific Junior feather weight title. He is a banger with a high win to KO ratio
(39-4-0 30KO's) and in his first U.S. appearance scored an impressive 4 round stoppage of
Kris Wuritimur. The fight will be held in Mexico, and do you think for one second Jamili
is going into Erik's backyard to take his title? Hmmmm . . I don't think so. You
see, the difference between the two is quality of opponents fought, and losability. In
other words, Eriks does not know how to lose.
Take my word for it, Erik will stop my Filipino brother in the late rounds, and Jamili's
current 21 fight win streak will come to an end.
Morales inside 10
Jorge Arce vs. Michael
Carbajal
This is Jorge's second title defense since winning the title from Juan Cordoba. In his
first defense last Apr, he dismantled Salvatore Fanni in 6 rounds. Michael has been trying
to line himself up for a chance for a 5th world title. In past predictions, I have stated
my lack of respect for the former world champion. I thought the boy retired? None the
less, Danny will have his brother ready for this matchup, but is Michael still a world
class boxer? His last 2 bouts have been against tomato cans and he looked less than
stellar against weak opponents. Michael will give his all, but lose speed in the later
rounds. Jorge will capitalize on this and stop him late. Perhaps Michael will announce
another retirement at the end of the bout =)
Arce inside 11
In Retrospect:
James Toney vs. Adolpho Washington
I underestimated James Toney, and over estimated Adolpho. I
figured Adolpho would train hard for this match, and not look like the heavy bag that he
did. James looked good, but at light heavy, isn't carrying the speed and power he had at
middle. Against any of the top 10 LH, James would not fare as well. Curious to see who
James will fight next. Maybe I won't underestimate him. We'll see . . .
Ray Oliveira vs. Chiat Salman
As expected. Ray brought the fight to the turk, and as I predicted, won rounds
and took the decision. I would like to see Ray in the ring with some top 10 talent, like
hector Comacho Jr at super welter or Oba carr at welter. I expect Ray to be in a title
fight by years end.
Erik Morales vs. Reynante Jamili
As expected - Erik came to the table to stop Jamili, and he did just that. Eric will
continue to be an unstoppable force to be reckoned with and proved it by stopping the #1
ranked contender. He's KO'd Junior Jones, Daniel Zargoza and Jose Luis Bueno. Next please?
What I would like to see is him move up to 126 and stop that loser Cesar Soto.
Jorge Arce vs. Michael
Carbajal
Not as expected. It turned out exactly 180 degrees from what I had predicted. Michael scored a truly lucky, come from behind, Rockyish win. Behind on
ALL score cards, and his eye's almost swelling shut, he launches a barrage on Jorge, and
the ref stops the fight in the 11th. A controversial stoppage and Michael's a Champ again.
What sucks the most is my prediction was ON until the 11th. Why didn't he give the boy a
standing 8? What's up with that? That ref's a geek, and I'm not bitter =)
We'll see how he defends it, I'll keep an eye on him.
Lucky bastard.
